Cavanaugh: A bad bet in downtown Stamford

Published 8:17 pm, Wednesday, June 4, 2014

So the Stamford Board of Representatives, in its infinite wisdom, thinks it's a great idea to have a betting parlor across from The Basilica of Saint John the Evangelist church on Atlantic Street, as indicated by its overwhelming approval Monday of a proposal by a British-based gambling company to establish an Off Track Betting facility on the second floor of a restaurant and sports bar. The OTB plan is a bad idea, which would almost assuredly create hundreds of gamblers -- some of whom would undoubtedly become compulsive to the detriment of their families since historically that has been the case in Connecticut, both from gambling at the state's two casinos and at other OTB parlors. Also, historically in Connecticut most patrons of OTB parlors have tended to be older people of modest means, many of whom bet far more than they can afford. I wouldn't expect to see many people from the tonier parts of Shippan or North Stamford hurrying downtown to place bets on the arcane sport of jai-alai, or greyhound and horse racing. But it's a sure bet that a lot of older men living on monthly Social Security checks will. OTB betting, like casino gambling, is part of a cash cow for the state, and so the State Gaming Commission naturally supports having an OTB parlor in Stamford, whether it's in and old dingy storefront or a high-tone restaurant which presumably will make the gambling look more respectable, especially with Bobby Valentine as a partner in the venture. It's probably too late to prevent the OTB parlor from being established across from the magnificent St. John's church and like the Jerry Springer program which broadcasts from next to the church, becoming an unwelcome beighbor to my old parish. To me, it is almost sacrilegious. Valentine wrote to me Wednesday that "This will not be what you know as a parlor." I asked him why Stamford's downtown needed another restaurant when it has so many, including his own just around the corner on Main Street. He responded, "I have many very good employees and great customers who have been with me for years. The building is in need of a major renovation and to do this I would have to close for months at a time. My employees would be out of work and my loyal customers might not be there when I re-opened. To make a seamless transition, moving to a new and upscale location will allow my employees to continue to be employed and allow a new and exciting venue."

At 17, Eddie Page probably should have been in Stamford preparing for the high school senior prom on June 6, 1944. But on that momentous day in U.S. military history, Page was one of hundreds of members of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division who parachuted into France as part of the D-Day invasion by Allied troops. Page was wounded three times and awarded the Bronze Star before he was discharged and returned to Stamford to become a butcher at Palmer's Market in Darien. Page was among Stamford men who participated in the D-Day invasion, which began 70 years ago Friday. Other paratroopers from Stamford included former boxer Mickey Donohue, who was shot and seriously wounded during the invasion and confined to a wheelchair because of his paralysis when he returned home; Harry LaChance, who was killed at Normandy; and George Ritchie Sr., who served with the 82nd Airborne. Among the other Stamfordites, to whom the city owes a collective gratitude for what the did under withering German fire on D-Day, were Stamford High School graduate Clement Turpin. After landing at Normandy, where thousands of GIs, including an unknown number from Stamford, were killed, Turpin was seriously wounded and was awarded the Silver Star, one of the army's highest honors; along with the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and five battle stars before coming back home and starting a career as a Stamford fireman. Then there were the pilots from Stamford who were part of about 10,000 bombers, fighter planes and transports that flew over Normandy, which Stamford's leading World War II historian Tony Pavia describes as the beginning of the end of the war in Europe, which concluded 11 months after D-Day. They included Howard Johnson, who piloted a B17 bomber over Normandy, and Constantine "Gus" Vanech, who flew 1 C-47 transport that ferried paratroopers who parachuted in the vicinity of Normandy and Omaha beaches under heavy enemy fire. Johnson would return home and become a commercial pilot while Vanech went to work at Pitney Bowes, which was a defense plant manufacturing materials for the military, as did Yale & Towne and a number of other Stamford factories along with the Luders boat yard. Navy men from Stamford who were part of the American D-Day invasion force included Walter Westcott, a navy man who commanded an LST (landing ship tank, which brought tanks and GIs onto to the beaches on D-Day), and Jay Ginter, who served as the crew chief of a C-47 Army Air Corps transport.

All of them were among an untold number of soldiers, sailors and airmen who took part in the successful but deadly D-Day invasion that did not end until 30 days later. Most of them returned to Stamford and back to civilian life without fanfare, happy to see their families and friends and glad to have survived a massive invasion that led to the end of the war in Europe, which they rarely talked about, feeling they had merely done their duty for their country and their hometown. We should all pay tribute to those who served so heroically on D-Day at Normandy.